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Amazing Animal Facts

Courtesy of the BBC's "Wildfacts A to Z"

Facts about animals

Are there animals that you have always been curious about? Amazed by the aardvark? Perplexed by the platypus? Now you have the opportunity to learn more about animals from A to Z. Just find the animal you're wild to know more about, and a click on the creature's name will lead you to a page on BBC's "Wildfacts" for more information. A wonderful way to discover more about our world and the creatures we share it with!

Click on the alphabetically listed headings below to view information for and links to each animals within that section.

A stocky member of the cow family from Africa. The females form protective herds whilst the males are mostly solitary. Members of the herd are thought to 'vote' on which direction the herd should move.

The scimitar cat is the lesser known of the two 'sabre-toothed' cats of ice age North America. This extinct cat was a formidable hunter, and evidence suggests it was the major predator of mammoths during its time.

Fur seals are distinguished from true seals by the presence of external ears and the ability to bring their rear flippers underneath their bodies to enable them to stand on all four limbs. For this reason, fur seals are more closely related to sea lions than true seals and are more capable of moving on land.

About 5-6 million years ago, there were tree-living apes that gave rise to two major groups of animals. One group remained in the forests and is represented today by living chimps an gorillas, and the other lived more on the edges of the forest and gave rise to the hominids, today represented only by humans.

B: Babirusa to Bushbuck

The babirusa is a bizarre-looking pig from Indonesia. The males have extraordinary tusks that develop from their canine teeth, growing up through the skull and growing in a curve until it pierces the skull again between the eyes.

Blainville's beaked whales are thought to have the widest distribution of all the beaked whales. They are also one of the commonest of the beaked whales, although they are still rarely sighted due to their preference for deep water.

Brown rats have been bred for research and the pet trade. They spread across Britain via the shipping traffic from foreign countries in the 18th Century, largely replacing the black rat. Along with house mice, they are considered to be the most widespread terrestrial mammal.

In 1986, a troop of chacma baboons was found living in the heart of the Namib desert — the most arid environment known to be inhabited by a non-human primate (the annual rainfall is only 27mm). In 1992, the troop went without water for 116 days, eating figs for moisture.

Chances are, if you are reading this in the British Isles, you are within a mile or less of a collared dove. Yet, just 40 years ago, the closest individual would have been no nearer than France, Holland or Denmark. Until 1953, the species had never even been seen in Britain.

The extinct Columbian mammoth was one of the largest elephants to have walked the Earth. It had impressive, spiralled tusks which measured up to 4.9m (16ft) long, making them world record holders amongst the elephant family.

Adaptable nocturnal animals that often live in urban environments in North America. They have extremely dextrous hands, which help them catch fish and aquatic animals as well as harvest nuts and seeds.

When disturbed from the nest, young common shrews will sometimes follow their mother in a caravan fashion, using their mouths to hold on to the tail of the sibling in front. They are the second most common British mammal.

Common toads secrete an irritant substance from their skin that prevents most predators from eating them. Unfortunately for the toads, a few predators, such as grass snakes and hedgehogs, do not seem to be deterred by this irritant.

Dinofelis is a sabre-tooth cat from a group often known as the 'false sabre tooths', as they had small sabres that were not as flattened and knife-like as those of other sabre-tooth groups and were more like those of the group to which modern cats belong, which have conical teeth.

Ancient Egyptians revered the scarab (dung beetle). They credited it with keeping the earth revolving like a giant ball of dung. Much earlier than the Egyptians, 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, dung beetles were revered by Shamanic cultures, often as The Creator.

Eastern grey kangaroos can leap up to nine metres in a single bound, but this great ability often gets them into trouble with Australian sheep farmers. Many are shot by farmers as they leap over fences and feed on grazing land, but luckily the kangaroo population is large enough to withstand this depletion in numbers.

The ancestor of all domestic rabbits, the European rabbit has become so successful that it is considered a pest in many areas. They were introduced to the UK by the Normans in the 12th century to provide meat and fur.

Pigeons are actually domesticated rock doves that have returned to wild or semi-wild conditions. Some rock doves were domesticated for food, others as homing pigeons, and some as 'fancy' pigeons, bred for their plumage.

Despite being one of the most popular of all animals, the giant panda is rare and elusive. Famous for their love of bamboo, little else is known about their behaviour in the wild and their breeding success in captivity is poor.

Goshawks are present in increasing numbers in Britain — probably over 300 pairs — and the majority are probably related to birds released by falconers. They were originally called 'goose hawks', probably due to their size and finely-barred plumage.

A member of the ancient, native group of African mammals and not related to European moles, the golden moles are solitary, blind burrowers with shiny pale brown fur. Grant's golden mole particularly specialises in eating termites.

Great crested newts are Britain's largest newt species. Although now afforded some legal protection in the UK, populations have declined over recent years as a result of the destruction and fragmentation of their habitat.

A tiny marsupial, the only survivor of an ancient group, which lives only on nectar and pollen and hold a number of extraordinary records amongst mammals: the smallest newborns, the largest testes in proportion to body size, and the largest sperm.

Populations of these dolphins found in the west have a hump that the dorsal fin sits on. Those in the east lack a hump and can sometimes get confused with bottlenose dolphins. Their unusual coloration makes them easy to spot.

Madagascans know the Indri as the babakoto, which means man of the forest or little father. They produce a loud territorial call in the morning, which can travel for over 1km. They are the largest of the lemurs and are easily identifiable by their stumpy tail.

As well as being the most northerly-living non-human primate, Japanese macaques are also famous for washing their food. They are often the subject of Buddhist myths and are thought to be the inspiration behind the saying "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."

K: Kestral to Kodkod

Despite the fact that kestrels have declined in Britain in the last few years, they are still the commonest bird of prey in Europe. Their habit of hovering, particularly near motorways, mean that they are also one of the easiest to spot.

Leopards are one of the prize sightings on a safari. Stealthy and elusive, they are also surprisingly well camouflaged. The twitch of a tail may be the only give-away to a leopard resting in the branches of a tree.

Leopard seals are named after their spotty coat, but they live up to their name and are fearsome hunters. Filling the niche that polar bears hold in the Arctic, they are the top predators of Antarctic waters.

Smaller than its giant relative, lesser sperm whales are thought to have developed an unusual method of escaping predators. They are believed to produce a thick red/brown fluid when startled, which allows them to escape as the predator tries to see its way through the dense liquid. Squid use ink in the same way.

Lions are unique in that they are the only cats to live in groups (prides). The male lion is also the only cat to have a mane, giving it a regal appearance that has earned it the title of 'king of the beasts'.

Little brown bats are just as their name suggests. These long-lived bats are abundant across most of North America, their numbers having grown with the increased availability of suitable roosting sites, such as attics and mines, provided by the ever-growing human population.

There are three species of monk seal. The Hawaiian species is endangered, the Mediterranean species is critically endangered, but sadly it is too late for the Caribbean species, which has become extinct.

N: Naked Mole-Rat to Nuthatch

A rodent which lives in colonies underground, digging with its enlarged front teeth. Only one female in a colony breed, and her offspring become workers or soldiers, helping dig the burrows in search of tubers underground.

A large, herbivorous rodent adapted for swimming with webbed feet and a scaly, paddle-like tail. It lives in family groups and alters the flow of water in its range by digging canals and building dams.

A small member of the rabbit family with short legs and soft, silky fur. North American pikas have individual territories on the rocky mountains of North America and spend much of the summer gathering hay for the winter.

Male northern elephant seals are the second largest of all the pinnipeds (after the southern elephant seal). They were once at risk of becoming extinct, but happily their numbers are now much healthier.

Seals, sea lions, fur seals and walruses are all classed as pinnipeds. The name is derived from the Latin for flap-footed, and these marine mammals are thought to have derived from bear-like ancestors that entered the sea millions of years ago.

Peregrines are the fastest animals in the world. They are believed to achieve speeds approaching 200km/h (124mph) when plunging from the sky after prey. One has been logged by radar at 183km/h (114mph) after a dive of 305m (1,000ft).

Pine martens were once considered to be vermin and were persecuted throughout the 17th century. They were trapped for their fur and because of attacks on game birds and chickens. By the early 1900s, the pine marten was extinct throughout much of Britain.

When the first platypus was shipped to Britain from Australia, people thought it was a joke, due to the animal's bizarre appearance — they thought someone had sewn a duck's bill to a mammal's body. Even when it was accepted to be real, people thought it was a bird or a reptile due its to egg-laying abilities.

Proboscis monkeys have the longest noses of all primates. In elderly animals, it can reach 17.5cm (a quarter of the body length) Although its function is not known for sure, it is likely to be a visual signal used in mate choice. The male vocalises through the nose with a kee honk sound.

A monkey renowned for its loud call, which the males make to tell other groups where the troop is currently feeding. This helps them save energy by avoiding having to patrol a territory and conflicting with neighbours.

Red pandas look more like raccoons than their closest relative — the giant panda. They are secretive and gentle creatures, spending most of the day sleeping curled up with their tail wrapped around their head.

Muntjac deer were introduced to Woburn Park, Bedfordshire, in the early 20th Century. Since then many escapees have reproduced and expanded their populations outwards. Muntjacs were also introduced to parks in Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire.

They have given their name to the rhesus antigens found in their blood in 1940, which has enabled doctors to determine different blood groups in humans. Rhesus monkeys were also the first primates to be rocketed into space.

Ringed seals are small seals living in the northern hemisphere. They are especially adapted to live and breed in the arctic ice, building ice caves above their breathing holes to protect the pups from predators such as polar bears.

Roe deer became extinct in most of England during the 18th century, but they were reintroduced in the 19th century. Before 1960 they were treated as vermin due to the damage they cause to the forestry industry.

Rough-toothed dolphins can be mistaken for bottlenoses, although they do not have such prominent beaks. They are sometimes seen with bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins, spotted dolphins and pilot whales.

Royal penguins can be confused with macaroni penguins, as both have black-and-yellow crests on their head. One way to spot the difference is that macaronis have black chins and royals have white chins.

S: Sabre-Tooth Cat to Swallowtail Butterfly

One of the best known of all the extinct ice age animals, the powerfully built sabre-tooth cat was equipped with lethal knife-like canine teeth. The sabre-tooth used these to inflict fatal wounds on mammalian prey such as bison and sheep.

The sea otter is one of the largest otter species and rarely comes ashore, living its life in the kelp forests off the west coast of America, Alaska and Russia. It lies on its back and uses stones as a tool for dislodging and cracking molluscs.

The ladybird's bright colours are a warning to predators of its foul taste. When disturbed the ladybird will secrete small amounts of its oily foul-smelling yellow blood from its legs as a further warning to predators, such as ants or birds.

Scientists have recently recognised the soprano pipistrelle as a separate species. It can only be reliably told apart from the common pipistrelle by its echolocation call, which is on 55 kHz rather than 45 kHz.

Despite being the smallest of all the bears, the sun bear is probably the most aggressive and will attack without provocation. Relatively, they also have the largest canines of all the bears, although their diet is less carnivorous than some of their cousins.

Dominant male Tibetan stump-tailed macaques are reported to have a favourite infant, which they groom. Subordinate males recognise this and carry the favourite infant to the dominant
males in order to appease them.

The tiger is the largest of all the cats. Sadly, this magnificent animal has been hunted by humans and has lost much of its habitat. Three of the eight subspecies have already become extinct, and other populations are also at high risk.

If you see a tube web you can entice the spider to reveal itself by gently touching the radiating trip-lines with a small stick or piece of grass. This will only work in the evening or at night as the spider is nocturnal.

W: Walrus to Wren

Walruses are famous for their tusks and are the only pinnipeds (true seals, sea lions and fur seals) that have them. These can grow up to 1m in length, and males tend to have larger tusks than females.

It is thought that this species was introduced to this country from continental Europe. Its population was previously confined to the south coast, but it seems to be spreading northwards. It has been recorded in this country since 1922, but it may have been here longer.

For years the world's largest primate has been portrayed as a fearsome and aggressive beast. But gorillas are actually gentle giants, who have strong family ties and feed on nothing more sinister than vegetation.

The wild boar, the ancestor to our domestic pigs, is a large pig species covered in dark bristly hairs. It is a widespread species, common in broadleaf forests across much of Europe, Asia and North Africa.

This is one of the few species in the UK that can bite humans. Although their venom is not dangerous to us, their bite can be painful due to the strength of their jaws, and some people may have an allergic reaction to the venom. However, they are unlikely to bite.

There are three species of woolly opossum. These strange-looking little animals with pointed noses and forward-facing bulging eyes, spend their days climbing through treetops in search of fruit and hanging from their long prehensile tails.

The yellow-footed rock wallaby, as its name suggests, is one of the most colourful members of the kangaroo family. Living in rocky terrain, it has developed a way of using its short forelimbs rather like a tight rope performer's pole to balance its acrobat jumps.

Z: Zebra Spider

Zebra spiders belong to the family Salticidae (also known as jumping spiders) who are believed to have the best eyesight of any arthropod. If you take a close look at one of these spiders, it will often turn its head to look straight back at you.